Why Reddick passing 15 cars in 12 laps wasn’t enough to win

When the caution flew late in the NASCAR Cup race at Chicago, Tyler Reddick and the 23XI Racing team made the bold decision to pit from third on track in favor of fresh tires and some extra fuel.

He restarted 18th with just 12 laps left, evading several spinning cars as he began his rapid march forward. Reddick was up to 14th by the time the final caution of the race flew, leaving him nine laps to get to the front of the pack.

After that, it was all precision from Reddick as he drove his way all the way up to third. If not for the race-ending caution, he likely would have gotten around Ty Gibbs for second place as well. 

“Shane was just a little too far ahead,” said Reddick, who remains the highest driver in points without a win this year.

“When we did pit and put those tires, a couple cars got spun on the restart and we were just in the wrong lane and stacked up .. Lost time trying to pass them and then passing those cars on the older tires. Just part of it. Chaos on a street course at the end there, but I was really proud of our whole 23XI Racing team.

”This Jumpman Toyota Camry was really fast, it just – we needed that restart to go a little differently. I definitely think we had the pace to get to Shane. It was hard to say how much he was saving or not, but it felt good to have a shot of it.”

Losing valuable time

Reddick ended up losing some time avoiding the late-race wrecks, which could have been the difference between catching SVG and ultimately finishing third.

“I can’t name them all, but unfortunately, we kind of just got stuck in the wrong lane where I had to check up,” said Reddick. “Those cars that we were on the same tire strategy as I got behind, so we just lost a bit of time there passing those cars back.”

Reddick is now fifth in the regular season standings, but due to his lack of race wins, he sits an uncomfortable 13th in the playoff standings.

He’s an impressive 142 points above the cut-line, but four new winners in the final two months of the regular season could still push him out of the playoff picture.